The Memory of Butterflies

After becoming fascinated by an old photograph of two young indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon, Tatiana Fuentes Sadowski delved into the history of the rubber trade around the turn of the 20th century. The boys in the photo were taken to London to be “civilized”—as an experiment. The people who took them knew very little about them beyond their names: Omarino and Aredomi.

Given that her own family history was intertwined with the rubber trade, Fuentes Sadowski felt compelled to dig deeper into this past. Hoping to learn more about the boys’ fate, she shows the photograph to their possible descendants. In the meantime her investigations uncover crimes committed by rubber barons against the region’s indigenous population.

New Super 8 footage blends seamlessly into archival material and photographs, which the director combines with other historical elements and colors to form an immersive collage. This is a powerful visual appeal to uncover overlooked stories and to create space for an alternative reading of colonial history.